- Holyrood to look at council tax reform
- Michael McVeigh at The Scottish Gallery
- Macmillan Coffee morning
- Free SEO course in Edinburgh!
- FLY Open Air Festival
It was the council leader Councillor Andrew Burns who told us early on this year when they were trying to set the council budget that the council tax system required reform, and that the local government funding model was ‘broken’. It appears that following the council tax freeze imposed by the Scottish Government they are now looking at a different local taxation system.
Legislation that will reform council tax and raise additional, targeted funding to improve Scotland’s schools was set out in Parliament yesterday.
Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Derek Mackay, confirmed that the necessary legal instruments had been laid at Holyrood, paving the way for reforms due to take effect from April 2017.
The government say that an additional £500 million will be raised over the current Parliament with the funds distributed to head-teachers to invest in schools directly and improve education at a local level.
Mr Mackay said: “The reforms I have introduced today will not only protect household incomes and make local taxation fairer, they will also benefit thousands of young people throughout Scotland as set out in our Education Delivery Plan.
“Although there will be no change for three out of four Scottish households in terms of how much council tax they pay as a result of these reforms, schools across the country will notice the difference this significant investment will make.
“This Government has made it clear time and time again that improving the life chances of Scotland’s young people remains at the top of our priorities. Today we have taken further action to make this vision a reality. Closing the attainment gap and giving our children the best possible start in life will ensure a more prosperous nation and I am pleased these reforms will be able to play their part in realising this.”
Michael McVeigh is someone you will know if you have ever frequented his stall on Rose Street. His art is very much about Edinburgh and in particular Princes Street Gardens which he is very fond of.
Read more here about his first solo exhibition at The Scottish Gallery
A model of Edinburgh Castle made of biscuits has been created to celebrate Macmillan Cancer Support’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. This year it takes place on 30 September and models of many UK landmarks, including the castle, will go on display in a gallery on London’s Baker Street.
The model which is made up of 25,000 biscuits was unveiled by Macmillan lung clinical nurse specialist Katherine Stevens at the Koppel Project earlier this week. Since it started the coffee morning has raised £165 million. To be part of it click here.
The Yard is an Edinburgh based technical marketing agency and it is running a free course in September to teach you the rudiments of SEO – that is search engine optimisation to the uninitiated.
Admission to the Yard workshop is available to anybody in the area who is interested in learning a new skill and a limited number of free tickets are currently available via Eventbrite:
The FLY Open Air Festival will take place in Princes Street Gardens on 24 September 2016. The line up will include :
So if these names are your kind of music then buy your ticket here:
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
